Archive for the '2012 Playoffs' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

There is no new NHL hockey to watch as the lockout drags on through its sixth week but Prime Ticket and Fox Sports Net will continue to air past Ducks and Kings playoff games for those who can use a fix.

Prime Ticket plans to air Games 3 and 4 of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals between the Mighty Ducks and New Jersey Devils on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Game 6 of Ducks-Devils will be shown on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. followed by Game 1 of the 2007 Western Conference quarterfinals against the Minnesota Wild.

The Ducks were supposed to play at Toronto on Oct. 30 in the first game between Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle and his old team but that was canceled by the NHL last week. They are scheduled to face Vancouver at home on Nov. 7 but the possibility of that occurring is contingent on a new collective bargaining agreement hammered out this week.

Fox Sports West will continue to show Kings playoff games from last season's run to the Stanley Cup. Games 1 and 2 of their second-round series against St. Louis will be shown on Oct. 31 and Games 3 and 4 of their sweep of the Blues will be aired on Nov. 7 if the lockout remains in place.

Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West will air classic Ducks and Kings playoff games beginning next week in light of the NHL canceling the first two weeks of the regular season due to the current lockout.

The Ducks' Game 1 triple overtime thriller against Detroit in the 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals will be shown by Prime Ticket on Tuesday at 7 p.m. PT and their clinching Game 4 win over the Red Wings will be televised at 9:30 p.m.

On Oct. 23, Prime Ticket will air Game 2 of the 2003 Western Conference semifinals against Dallas at 7 p.m. followed by the clinching Game 6 win over the Stars.

Fox Sports West will show Kings' games from their 2012 run to their first Stanley Cup title. Games 1 and 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals against Vancouver will be shown on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m.

A week later, the Kings' Game 3 win over the Canucks will be televised followed by their Game 5 triumph that became the franchise's first playoff series win since 2001.

Bruce Boudreau's opinions can be so entertaining that the Ducks coach did regular commentary during the NHL playoffs for two different media outlets, his insights beamed throughout America and Canada.

So, now that his team's chief rival just won its first Stanley Cup, what does Boudreau think of the Kings finally being crowned formally.

“It took them 45 years to get it right,” he said. “I hope it takes 'em 45 more years to get it right (again).

“We never liked them in the first place…I think it will stoke the rivalry. The great news about it is, in the last five years, two Southern California teams have won it. The way I look at it is it's one each, let's see who wins the next one.”

Boudreau predicted early in the postseason that the Kings would at least reach the Stanley Cup finals. He then spent weeks pulling for his opinion to be wrong.

The Register sent three of its interns to cover the Kings' Stanley Cup parade on Thursday at Staples Center with the assignment to capture the color of the moment.

So they attacked the assignment with cameras and notebooks in hand. They returned with some great photos and some surprising comments from Kings' fans … well, maybe not that surprising. Some of them used this opportunity to take a shot at the Ducks.

“Let's put it this way, we made the Stanley Cup championship more legit than Anaheim did five years ago,” said Christian Allen, 23, of Gardena. “Let's put it this way, they had like 5,000 people in their parking lot, we got a parade going between 5th and Figueroa all the way down here.

“They're probably expecting more than a couple 100,000 people coming down here. To all the Ducks fans out there, look at what we got. Go Kings.”

Having a credential not only allowed the Register to cover the Kings' run to the Cup but it also got us behind the scenes – at least as far as the NHL would allow. Armed with a modest camera and a cell phone, this intrepid reporter thought he'd show you some of those scenes along with the moments and the people that made up the fight for the silver chalice.

The New Jersey Devils all were insistent that these Stanley Cup Finals were not over even when everyone else -- including yours truly -- seemed to think so.

Turns out, they were quite right.

Thanks to their 2-1 victory over the Kings in Game 5, the resurgent Devils got to make their cross-country trek back to the West Coast and are now instilling some concern into a team that has lost consecutive games for the first time since the end of the regular season.

The talk now isn't about whether the Kings can make history after their amazing 15-2 postseason run until Game 4 but if they'll be able to finish the Devils and win the Cup in front of their title-starved fans.

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News sees parallels between the Kings' unprecedented Stanley Cup run and the perfect game thrown by the pedestrian Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series.

That, in fact, is the most frequently asked question: How come it took the Kings all season to even get into the playoffs?

It's a shame in a way because it continues to invalidate the long-invalidated regular season. It seems like a long time since the Kings were shut out twice at home in succession, 1-0. Actually it was only late February.

Anyway, Campbell's explanation for the 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals is a familiar one. The Kings' core players are playing better than those of the Devils, who got a fifth playoff goal from fourth-liner (and former Duck) Ryan Carter.

What's amazing to me is that Monday night will only be the Kings' seventh game of the postseason at Staples Center. That postseason began on April 11. That's how ruthlessly efficient they've been in finishing series.

Anze Kopitar delivered the honors for the Kings in Game 1. Jeff Carter repeated it in Game 2.

Carter scored at 13:42 of overtime to give the Kings another 2-1 victory over New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Finals and a commanding 2-0 lead as they edged even closer to their first championship in franchise history.

It was Carter's fifth goal of the postseason and the biggest of his career to date. Coming to the Kings from Columbus in a key deadline trade move, Carter beat Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with a low shot on his stick side.

Now two wins away from the Cup, the Kings are 10-0 on the road in these playoffs and have won an NHL-record 12 postseason games away from home. Kopitar provided a 2-1 win in the Finals opener with a breakaway goal in overtime.

Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots to improve to 14-2 in the postseason, strengthening his bid for the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player. Brodeur made 30 saves.

The Ducks fans we talked to this week all said they'd be watching the Stanley Cup finals starting Wednesday.

They also agreed on this not-so-minor point: They'd be rooting against the Kings. Hard.

With four more victories, the Kings would secure the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, giving the team the same number of league titles won by the Ducks. The finals open in New Jersey. Games 3 and 4 are set for next week at Staples Center, only 30 miles from Honda Center, home of the Ducks.

“I don't wish them personal ill will," long-time Ducks season-ticket holder Tom Millsap says. "But, as a fan, I don't mind them making it to the Cup (finals), but let them go and sample it and let them lose. For this generation of Kings fans, let them sample it first but also let them feel what it's like to lose once. Then they can go back in another five or six years.”

The Ducks became the first California-based team to the win Stanley Cup and also gave their fans the ultimate comeback to end any argument with fervent supporters of the Kings.

"WE'VE GOT A CUP! WHERE'S YOURS?"

You can't really top that one. Unless you've won the last one.

The Kings are in the Cup final for the first time since 1993. They're 12-2 in these playoffs and are the first team to win their first eight road games in a single postseason. At this point, it's hard not to think that they can pull off four more against the New Jersey Devils.

It just might be the worst nightmare for a Ducks fan, who had to suffer through his/her team's worst season since before the lockout. Yes, it still took the Ducks only 13 years instead of four-plus decades but that argument rings a bit hollow if the Kings are suddenly the defending Cup champion.